Episode 8: Care Bear Stare
by ClassicCartoon27
Summary: With Scarlet now on the team the Super Stars have split-up to get the training done. But what will happen when Care-A-Lot comes under attack? Will three heroes be enough? Or will the fastest thing alive give them an much needed edge?
1. Chapter 1: The Sorceress' Aprentice

Greeting to all in fan fiction I have returned! Yes I know you all were hoping for the sequel to Web of the Heart but I need to get some of my other stories up. I am working the sequel as well as a Kingdom Hearts story. Keep a look out for them ok without further a due…On with the Show!

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><p><strong>EPISODE 8 – CARE BEAR STARE<strong>

"_A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart."_

- Zues. Walt Disney's "Hercules". 1997

**Hello Readers and welcome to another action packed adventure with the Toon Master and his friends. And speaking of friends, if you recall in the last episode, the Super Stars recruited another member to their team: Scarlet, the mystical gypsy girl.**

**During their time in Paris, Scarlet proved to the Super Stars that she's one spunky fighter, but severely lacking in the teamwork department. So now, the Stars have to train Scarlet as well as Tony. With two students in their midst, the Stars have decided to split up their training duties. Thus, we begin this story with a quick stop to Eternia where Jim and Tom oversee Scarlet's latest training session.**

"Concentrate, my dear. Feel the energy flowing around and through your body. Once you have a clear image of what you want to accomplish, gently release your power."

Scarlet did as she was instructed and concentrated. She could feel the power within her – more power than she had ever known before – flooding her veins. She actually expected to see it come oozing out of the pores in her skin. The dark red aura surrounding her bathed the stone walls of the ancient room in its otherworldly glow. Scarlet loved to just stand still and bask in the feeling of power, but she allowed herself only a second or two before forcing herself to regain her train of thought. Once the image was fixed firmly in her mind, she released her magic, like exhaling a bent-up breath.

Mystic energies reached out from her hands and twisted themselves in midair before her to form a bright ball of light. The ball pulsed once before soundlessly shattering like glass, leaving behind a small pure white dove. The dove fluttered its wings and glided to rest on Scarlet's outstretched hand.

"I did it," cheered Scarlet. She was incredibly pleased with herself.

"Yes, very well done." The speaker was a middle-aged woman standing a few paces behind Scarlet. The woman stood stiffly and portrayed a regal demeanor, but she spoke gently with a warm smile. She was wearing an outfit made almost entirely of feathers; white ones on her torso, blue down her arms, and a red-feathered cape that spread out like wings when she opened her arms wide. Her legs were bare, but two blue leather boots were on her feet. Atop her head, worn proudly like a crown, was a hood that resembled an eagle's head.

This woman was known simply as The Sorceress, Guardian and Protector of the ancient Castle GreySkull. She was one of many powerful magic users that the King of Toon World had asked to teach the newest Super Star. Scarlet's training had turned out to be more challenging than anyone had anticipated. Mike, Head Inventor at ACME Labs, had been tasked with supplying Scarlet with a suitable weapon, like all the other Super Stars had, but the young gypsy had flatly refused to wield any kind of physical weapon. She had rejected swords, knives, staffs, crossbows, clubs, shields, hammers, wands, and a great wicked scythe used only once by a little old lady from Pasadena.

Rather than be annoyed or frustrated with Scarlet's unwillingness, Mike was overjoyed. After all, experimenting was his life and he took it as a personal challenge to find the perfect match for Scarlet. It had taken some hard thinking and delicate work, but Mike had come through once again. He had developed the thick red armbands that Scarlet now wore on her wrists. These armbands acted as amplifiers for her magic, making her about five times stronger when in her transformed state. Scarlet had loved them and wore them proudly.

Unfortunately, that had only been half the problem. Scarlet knew how to use magic, but with the armbands, she now had more magic power than ever before and didn't know how to handle it. Finding a teacher had been a little tricky. The court of the King and Queen of Toon World contained no royal wizard and none of the other Super Stars knew magic. Tony, of course, had magic powers through the Toon Sword, but he was still learning himself.

There were many magic wielding heroes in Toon World who could help, but they had their own problems to worry about. With Dr. Claw's armies always on the move and regular villains still posing a threat, a hero's free time was scarce. In the end, the King of Toon World had to call in a few favors from other royalty and influential people to find teachers for Scarlet. That was why Scarlet, Jim, and Tom were on Eternia, deep within the chambers of Castle GreySkull, learning from no less than The Sorceress herself, one of the most powerful magic users in the entire dimension.

Scarlet gazed like a proud mother at the small bird resting on her hand. "That was harder than I thought," she said a little breathlessly. During her training, Scarlet had excelled at large, flashy magic spells like bangs, bombs, and blasting, but she was having a hard time with subtler spells like illusions and conjuration. They required an intense level of focus that Scarlet had trouble maintaining. This one bird had taken many, many tries to get right.

The ever patient Sorceress had gently guided Scarlet through the process. She too was looking at the dove with pride. "Yes, a vast improvement over your other attempts." With a graceful wave of her feathered hand, the Sorceress indicated several of the other birds Scarlet had attempted to create including one with no feathers, one with no legs, one with two heads, and one that's frankly too disgusting to be described.

Scarlet cringed at the sight of her failures. "Well, practice makes perfect and it looks like I finally have mastered the conjuring." She stoked the dove's soft white feathers. The dove cooed in appreciation.

"You've mastered conjuring this one small bird, yes," agreed the Sorceress, "but remember that larger objects take a considerably greater amount of energy to create and control. You must retain your focus."

Scarlet released the dove and let it fly high into the vaulted ceilings of the castle. "Do not be worrying, Sorceress. When I put my mind to it, I have unshakeable focus. Is that not right, my friends?" When there was no answer, Scarlet looked over her shoulder at the two teenage boys that had travelled with her to Caster Greyskull. Jim was tall and lean with a head of unruly short brown hair. As always, his clothes looked like they came from the bottom of his laundry basket, with faded oil and grease stains everywhere. Tom was a little shorter than Jim with longer blond hair and a more muscular body. More often than not, there was a blank look on Tom's face. Right now, both boys were sitting against the stone wall, eyes closed, snoring loudly.

"JIM! TOM!"

They both jumped at the shout and looked around, getting their bearings. Jim squinted in the direction of Scarlet and the Sorceress. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and spotted the white dove searching for an exit in the stone ceiling.

Jim nudged Tom as he got to his feet. "Yo Tom. Look; she finally did it," he said, pointing to the bird.

Tom noticed the dove too. He cheered and went over to congratulate Scarlet. "Great job, Scarlet. Very nice."

"Thank you, darling," said the young gyspy, smiling sweeting.

Then Tom turned to Jim. "You owe me five bucks."

As a confused Scarlet looked on, Jim grudgingly took out his wallet and handed Tom a five dollar bill. "What's all this?" she asked.

Tom happily pocketed the money before answering. "Jim bet me you'd never be able to pull the spell off."

"You bet against me?" demanded Scarlet in a huff.

Jim shrugged. "I was playing the odds."

"Seemed like a safe bet to me." Everyone turned to see Prince Adam, the crown prince of Eternia, enter the room. He stood tall with Prince Valiant-style blond hair, wearing a white shirt, dark pink vest and indigo pants. Adam was good-natured and kind, but also came across as being lazy and irresponsible. This was just a ruse, however, since Prince Adam was actually He-Man, super-strong hero of Eternia and protector of Greyskull. Like the Toon Master, Adam transformed into He-Man using the magic sword strung across his back.

"Et tu, Your Highness?" said Scarlet in a pained voice. "You didn't think I'd be able to do it either?"

"Well…" A stern look from the Sorceress stopped the sarcastic reply in Adam's throat and wiped the mischievous smile off his face. He tried a different tact. "You have been at it a long time," said Adam as gently as he could. Then, eager to change the subject, he added, "So long in fact, that the other Super Stars have been calling all over Eternia trying to reach you." Adam held out a small hand-held video communicator. A red light was blinking on it, indicating a call on hold.

"We turned off our wrist communicators to avoid distractions," Scarlet said shortly. She grabbed the communicator out of Adam's hand and pressed the blinking light. Penny, the princess of the Toon World, instantly appeared on the video screen. The color of her blue eyes perfectly matched the clear sky behind her. Her single blond ponytail was waving in the breeze.

When Penny spoke, she sounded a bit annoyed and impatient. "Scarlet, it's about time. I've been trying to reach you all afternoon."

In a voice filled with pride, Scarlet replied, "Well, it was worth the wait, Penny, dear. I am happy to report that under the masterful tutelage of the Sorceress, I have become an expert in the art of conjuration."

"Yes, Prince Adam was telling me all about it," said Penny. "Have you managed to create a bird with only one head yet?"

Scarlet shot a venomous look at Adam, who could only smiled innocently back while Jim and Tom struggled to hide their snickering.

Composing herself, Scarlet resumed her confident air, "Admittedly, there were a few bug-a-boos in the beginning, but I have perfected the technique. Soon I will master my magic. And speaking of masters, how is Tony's training coming along?"

Penny was caught off-guard by the question and automatically became defensive. "Tony? His training's going fine. Why?" Her sentences were short and clipped.

"Just checking, as a friend," said Scarlet with a sly smile. "Is he there right now?"

"No," Penny almost shouted. She continued in a quiet, but panicky voice. "No, he's not here. In fact, he won't be here for a while yet. Still training; lots to do. I'm gonna have to sign off. We'll join you at the Eternian palace later, as planned. Okay, bye."

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><p>I would seem Scarlet has redirected her hatred to claw to her training, I guess the team need to be more sportive. And what is this? It would seem that Scarlet has hit a sour spot with Penny…Interesting. But where is Tony? Stay tuned! Don't forget to read and review<p>

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	2. Chapter 2: Race to the Rescue

Sorry for the late update. Work has been the worst. Any way...

When last we left our heroes the newest member Scarlet was training on Eternia with Tom and Jim for moral support...or lack there of. Her training has been going well, is you call a bird with two heads well. After receiving a call from Penny Scarlet seemed a bit happier, Penny on the other hand...well lets see shall we?

Lights...Camera... Action!

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><p>Penny quickly severed the link on her wrist communicator. Scarlet's smug face was slow to fade from the screen and even slower to fade from Penny's mind. She wasn't sure why, but every time Scarlet mentioned Tony's name or even looked at him it infuriated her.<p>

Penny glanced at the teenage girl standing beside her. Like Penny, Mary was dressed in a lightweight tan outfit which helped to protect them from the sand and blistering heat of the Mobian desert. The two girls were standing in the shadow of the small transport ship (model number CHNL-25) to get out of the sun. They had arrived on the planet Mobius early that morning and all day the wind had been making their eyes water and their lips crack. Their special plastic visors had at least kept the sand out of their eyes.

Mary looked aghast at Penny for her rudeness. "Why did you hang up so quickly like that on Scarlet?"

Penny was ready to snap an angry retort at Mary, but she couldn't after looking at the sweet face of her friend. Besides, such plumes of anger at Scarlet tended not to linger. "I don't know," was all the answer Penny could give. How could she explain her feelings to Mary when she didn't even understand them fully herself?

Mary wasn't buying that and gave a Penny an angry glare which the princess mostly ignored, but it did compel her to say something. "Well, it's not like I lied to her. Tony isn't here."

"Well, you did tell a half lie," said Mary. She pointed over Penny's shoulder. The princess squinted against the glare of the sun so she could focus on the horizon. A large brown cloud was coming towards them. At first, Penny just assumed it was another sandstorm – they'd suffered three already that day – but looking closer, Penny could see two distinct clouds, not one. She pulled out a pair of binoculars from her pocket and focused them on the cloud.

Without turning, Penny said to Mary, "You got the stopwatch ready?"

Mary searched through a few of her own pockets before she found the digital stopwatch she had started earlier. It read 14:49:56 and was still silently ticking away.

"Ready", she said with her thumb just over the stop button on the watch.

Penny gave a very small nod, never taking her eyes off of the dust clouds. In mere seconds, they had tripled in size, filling the entire field of vision of the binoculars. The princess could just barely see two ever-growing black figures at the base of the clouds.

"Duck and cover!"

The girls smothered their heads with their arms as twin tornados pelted them with millions of grains of sand. At the speed the tiny soil particles were moving, they may as well have been bullets, but the girl's special desert outfits buffered most of the impact. Once the wind stopped howling in their ears and it seemed the dust had settled, Penny and Mary chanced a glance at the two figures now standing beside them.

One was Tony Masters, Toon Master of the cartoon world, chosen by the legendary Toon Sword now strapped to the young boy's back. At only fourteen years of age, the skinny teenager had been entrusted with protecting all good Toons (cartoon characters) from evil forces too great for regular heroes to handle. He didn't look much the hero right now though. In his transformed state, at least he was dressed the part with a shining, albeit slightly dirty, outfit. His yellow pants had red stripes down the sides which led to sneakers which were smoking profusely from friction. His dark gold cape was twisted around his body, almost obscuring the symbol on his yellow shirt: the Toon Sword behind a red star with the letters "T" and "M" interlocked within.

Tony was bent over with his hands on his knees gasping heavily for air, but he still managed to look to his side and wheeze, "HA!…I told you…I'd win."

"Yeah, right!" scoffed the other figure. It was a short hedgehog standing on two legs and covered with blue spines. He wore only a pair of white gloves and a pair of red and white sneakers which were tapping impatiently on the sandy ground. His arms were folded and he showed no exhaustion over the obviously strenuous exercise both he and Tony had just done. A smug one-sided smile crossed the hedgehog's face. "You were so far behind me; I almost considered stopping to wait for ya. Almost."

Tony straightened up as he recovered. "You're obviously delusional Sonic."

"If one of them wasn't a hedgehog, I'd swear they were brothers," observed Mary, smiling. Penny just rolled her eyes at Sonic and Tony's good-natured arguing.

"What was my time?" Tony asked eagerly.

"15 minutes and 54.02 seconds," reported Mary. "That marks your average speed at about 800 miles per hour."

"Yes!" shouted Tony, jumping into the air. "A personal record!"

Penny did not share Tony's enthusiasm and adopted an impassive attitude, although Tony didn't notice. Mary did and tried to argue on Tony's behalf. "Tony has been doing very well in his training."

That was a bit of an understatement. Ever since Tony started hero training, he's been mastering one subject after another with a zeal that his teachers back on Earth have never seen. His interest in cartoons, complimented by Theodore's own influence, has been the perfect preparation for being Toon Master. In the few scant months Tony has been in Toon World, he has gained proficiency in ranged weapons, martial arts, chemical warfare, computer programming, swordsmanship, Toon World history, and dozens of individual super powers – super speed being the latest. Not only that, Tony did not make the common rookie mistakes most new heroes would, except perhaps a bit of overconfidence.

Penny, however, had a dimmer view of Tony's performance. "Not bad, Tony, but next time you should take deeper breaths while running, like Sonic does, so that you're not wheezing at the end. That leaves you open to enemy attacks."

Tony scowled at Penny and said, "If you're going to ruin my moment, Penny, you could at least let me have the moment."

"Look, Tony, I'm just saying you have to perfect your use of super powers."

Tony gestured to the racetrack and the cloud of dust still hanging over it. "I just beat Sonic the Hedgehog. I'd call that pretty perfected."

"You did NOT beat me," insisted Sonic.

"'Pretty perfected' is not 'perfect'," said Penny. "When you finally fight Dr. Claw, nothing less than your best will do."

Tony was starting to get really irritated. "Nothing I do is ever good enough for you, is it?"

Mary tried to take the diplomatic approach by saying, "There's always room for improvement."

"You can't just tap into powers and then use them like their power tools," said Penny, steamrolling right over Mary. "You have to think about how each power works before you use it."

*Beep beep* *Beep beep*

The argument was interrupted as Penny glanced down at her communicator. A red crown was flashing on the screen, indicating an emergency message from the royal palace of Toon World. Mary and Tony glanced at their wrists as well. They were receiving identical emergency signals.

"Put it on speaker, Penny," said Mary.

Penny flipped a switch on her wrist communicator and instead of an image displaying on the screen, a 3-D figure appeared in the air before all of them. The figure was Penny's father, the King of all the Toon World. He was tall, strong man, although you couldn't tell from the 3-D display since it showed only his head and shoulders. The king's beard and elegant jeweled crown were rendered in holographic green lines.

"My daughter, Tony, Mary," spoke the king in a regal and commanding voice. "It is good to see you well; and you too Master Sonic."

"What's happing, Your Way Cool Highness?" said Sonic.

"Something potentially disastrous, I'm afraid," said the King gravelly.

"Has something happened at the palace, Father?" inquired Penny.

"Not at Toon Town, Penny, but in Care-A-Lot." Care-A-Lot is the cloud-filled home of the Care Bears. Standing about three feet tall with different colored fur, they look like large plush toys. The Care Bears' goal in life is to keep everyone in the Toon World happy and friendly towards one another. This way, even though they might not be considered super heroes by some, they battle evil in their own way.

"We received a garbled communications from Care-A-Lot some moments ago," the King continued. "There was much interference, so we were unable to determine what was said, but it was on an emergency channel."

"Do you think someone could be blocking the Care Bears' signal, Your Highness?" Tony asked.

Penny answered instead. "More likely the interference is due to the Bears' own equipment. I know Grumpy Bear is a fair mechanic, but overall, their level of technology is far below the majority of Toon World."

"It's obvious that something bad has happened, though," pointed out Mary. "We can't ignore that."

"Of course not," said Tony. "Let's roll gang."

The Super Stars were about to board the CHNL-25 when a command from the King stopped them. The king looked off to his left and nodded. He seemed to be listening to someone – probably one of his aides.

"We've just received another distress call," the king told the anxiously waiting heroes. "This time from the Forest of Feelings." The Forest was the home of the Care Bear Cousins. (Geneology shows that they're actually third cousins, but who's counting.) The Cousins are like the Care Bears in that they spread friendship and good will, except that they aren't bears, but a variety of other animals. The Bears and the Cousins make up the Care Bear Family, one of the strongest forces of love and caring in Toon World.

"What should we do?" asked Mary. "Which distress signal should we investigate?"

"There's only three of us," observed Penny, "so if we split up and this emergency, whatever it is, is powerful enough, it could overwhelm us."

Penny turned as she felt Sonic tap her on the shoulder. "I always hate to disagree with beautiful princesses, but there are four of us, not three."

"Sonic, we can't ask you to risk…"

"Then it's a good thing you didn't," said the hedgehog. "Now let's go!" Sonic sped up the spaceship's ramp and disappeared into the ship only to poke his head out one second later and say, "I'm waaaaaiiiiitiiiiing."

"We still don't know where we're going," said Tony.

"Actually, you don't have to choose," said the King. "Our instruments indicate that Mobius is currently in alignment with both Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings. Stop by Care-A-Lot first and you can judge the nature of the emergency before moving on."

"Sounds like a plan," said Tony. "Let's hurry."

"Finally," sighed Sonic. The Super Stars ran into the CHNL-25 and immediately took off.

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><p>Sweet! Sonic the Hedgehog! That's Awesome! Well it looks as though our heroes have quite them day ahead of them selves good tins the blue blur is with them. That should speed things up...right? don't forget to leave a review.<p> 


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